Memorial Day Memories, 2024

 

 

I stand in my living room in Auburn, Washington, watching the flag outside my window ripple in the morning breeze. I am wearing a bright red tee shirt with the perfect motto for today: Look back and thank God. Look forward and trust God. I say a prayer of gratitude for those who have gone before me. The brave men and women who gave their lives that I might live free. My courageous pioneer ancestors who came to western Washington in the early 1900s and helped carve the town of Darrington from virgin forests–the town where I was born 88 years ago and lived for almost 35 years.

The present gives way to the past. Once more I am a child preparing to celebrate what was then called “Decoration Day.” A hundred miles northeast of Auburn, a lifetime ago. My anxious voice echoes down through the years. “Mom, how are we going to decorate the graves? It’s been so rainy, flowers haven’t bloomed.”

“Don’t worry,” she said. “We always have lilacs.”

“What will we put them in?” I asked. “We can’t afford vases.”

She smiled. “Fruit jars. [Mason canning jars].”

Year after year, always lilacs and fruit jars, the staples of our family’s annual trips to decorate the graves in our local cemetery.

In addition to being a time to honor those no longer with us, Decoration Day was an opportunity to visit neighbors, share joys, sorrows, and memories. Due to its rather isolated location, folks depended on one another. Community spirit ran high, from bleacher-packed attendance at the hometown basketball games, to caring for our own. When families lost their homes to fire, neighbors often gave what they really couldn’t afford. The way of life left an indelible mark on Darrington inhabitants. Years later, a long-term resident described it, “No one ever really leaves Darrington. Some just go away.”

I agree whole-heartedly. Life took me from my hometown decades ago. Yet time cannot dim my memories, especially of those late May mornings when folks laid aside duties and gathered to pay tribute. So many friends, so many relatives, some of whom still live in the town guarded by White Horse and other mountains. The cemetery, bright with flags and flowers; the joy of remembering. 

May you pause today and give thanks for living in America, home of the free, because of the brave.

Colleen